The evening was young when I finished work and got back to the hotel. I needed some exercise so I decided to head further up the hill to where I see the children go every morning. They bump up the road on the backs of boda boda or walk with heavy legs past the hotel front.
The earth is red, an almost unnatural colour and the sun is in my eyes. In the distance as I look towards the setting sun I can see a silver lake gleaming in the early evening light.
I turn left up an impassable road, small boulders and deep trenches cut by water makes it impossible for anything but a brave bikers to attempt the climb. I walked carefully minding my step, not wanting to crash to the ground cutting my legs and turning my white trousers, the same colour of Morogoro.
The first thing I see is a new school room and then walking further uphill another new classroom and a rudimentary classroom under construction. Traditional study desk are left haphazardly by eagerly departing students.
The school is charming and the views from it are spectacular. The school has all the basic facilities you need to educate children but no more. It’s on a steep hill so there’s no playground. The new classrooms have to be accessed by clambering down makeshift steps cut in the red mud.
This beautiful school has nothing but the bare essentials required for an educational establishment – classroom, chairs, desks, blackboard and teachers. What it has that other schools don’t has is a view that can inspire the children.
I hope they appreciate it but they probably don’t!